Haven, Snowden and paranoia
Given the times we live in, I try to avoid leaping to judgment, all the more so in the case of people I respect.
One of those people is Edward Snowden, who in collaboration with The Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Guardian Project has created an app called Haven to that can turn any Android phone, using its sensors, camera and microphone, into a device able to warn us of any interference with it and that can also detect movement around it. The idea is to prevent the evil maid attack, whereby our device is accessed when unattended, and a tracker, keyboard reader or program that allows surveillance or espionage is installed. Basically, it monitors the space around it, sending images and sound through Signal, a robustly encrypted app, without leaving a copy on the cloud or anywhere else.
Snowden explains the idea here:
As I said, this is a serious matter: Snowden certainly has reasons for being vigilant, and has been known to covering his hands with a pillowcase when typing his passwords, as well as asking journalists to put their smartphones in the refrigerator of the hotel’s minibar to avoid their devices being used to monitor conversations. In his situation, such precautions are completely understandable and justified. And to be honest, I had no idea a decade ago that I would be using a VPN for my smartphone and computer, or that I would have a password manager; but today, even a relative nobody like myself, an academic, takes such precautions, and I don’t see them as symptomatic of paranoia.
The problem isn’t that we’re all potential paranoiacs or that what we know about the world makes us so, but rather that there are people or institutions out there willing to exploit the less paranoid among us. But there is another associated problem: misuse of tools designed to protect us. Undoubtedly, Haven could help protect vulnerable journalists and activists. But it could also be used for other things, not all of them good: An Android phone could also be used for any number of illegal uses, and similarly, could generate paranoia: what happens when we leave our phone in our hotel room, and the cleaner comes in and moves it? There are any number of scenarios where using this kind of technology could lead to misunderstandings.
Let’s hope that overall, the consequences of people using a tool like Haven are more beneficial than harmful, giving the good guys a chance against the bad guys, who have traditionally had access to these kinds of tools. But we all know that reality is more complex, and that the line between bad and good can be fine one.
I fear that we will all end up looking constantly over our shoulders, or worse, what that phone is doing on the table over there. Fortunately, very few of us are Edward Snowden, so let’s use a little common sense.
(En español, aquí)
